Can you please satisfy my autistic immensity and tell me how is voice of Lane Vibesit / "The Radio Guy" suppose to sound like? Pre-release id imagine he sounded Opie and Anthony but seeing him in person ruined it for me and i cant help but imagine him sounding like The Chocolate Rain guy which is really bugging me. Maybe you can verity what voice was in mind?

He was inspired by a couple of people, but the genesis of his character came from the song "The End of Radio" by Shellac, so Steve Albini would be part of the inspiration for his voice. "Lane Vibesit" is in fact an anagram of Steve Albini.

The other contributing voice for Lane would come from a designer friend of mine who also takes an odd comfort in misery.

So, to answer your question, not at all like the Chocolate Rain guy, more like the DJ on your local college radio station.

Ah, I didn't understand you were only talking about the more specific press coverage, Brian. I wouldn't want to say you're wrong, but I at least think there might have been some elements of the extra hurdle turn based games deal with at the best of times; and it may be that the combination of a modern period, relatively non-fantasy game, turn based play, and the focus on the shelter and such may have, in combination, just been a bridge too far for many people--some of whom were gaming press.

Long time lurker, I've decided to make an account to thank you for the wonderful game. I'm really sorry that there won't be a sequel/expansion (on the lines of what Dragonfall is to Shadowrun returns) and believe me I would have backed the Kickstarter for it.

I wish you well in you future endeavors and I'll definitely check out any other RPG you might make (not really interested in other genres expect TBS).

I love DS and I absolutely buy that it struggled to get coverage because of the genre and release. I do think that many reviewers, in the press or on Steam/elsewhere, have been unfairly focused on bugs: CRPGs are an inherently buggy game at release, and even a game like Dragon Age with a budget many, many times higher than DS's had a ton of bugs at release that weren't fixed for a long time.

However, knowing the higher bar DS had to clear, Double Bear really should have taken more care to release it in a better state. I don't know if there were financial reasons it had to be released when it was, but it clearly wasn't ready at release day, and the scant attention from the press it did get was soured. If DS had waited to release like it is now, maybe some better buzz could have been built.

Still, I love the game and it's an absolute shame it hasn't panned out to support more and similar RPGs from DB. DS is a game I've wanted to play for a long time and will keep playing into the future. I hope someday DB might want to try a sequel with all the hindsight gained from DS and I'd be the first in line for it.

I love DS and I absolutely buy that it struggled to get coverage because of the genre and release. I do think that many reviewers, in the press or on Steam/elsewhere, have been unfairly focused on bugs: CRPGs are an inherently buggy game at release, and even a game like Dragon Age with a budget many, many times higher than DS's had a ton of bugs at release that weren't fixed for a long time.

However, knowing the higher bar DS had to clear, Double Bear really should have taken more care to release it in a better state. I don't know if there were financial reasons it had to be released when it was, but it clearly wasn't ready at release day, and the scant attention from the press it did get was soured. If DS had waited to release like it is now, maybe some better buzz could have been built.

I answered this above - the press I'm referring to is for all stages of the project, not just release.

I answered this above - the press I'm referring to is for all stages of the project, not just release.

Sure-- I think that's absolutely true too. I've followed the game since it was first talked about and when the KS started I was very frustrated that I couldn't get more people I know interested, although I tried and have tried since. I really appreciate your perspective on releasing and marketing a real-people RPG because I love the setting but, for some reason, it doesn't translate into RPG interest (there aren't even any tabletop RPGs exploring similar territory). You guys really broke a lot of ground with DS and I hope you can build on it in future projects, whether or not they're in the DS franchise.

I answered this above - the press I'm referring to is for all stages of the project, not just release.

Sure-- I think that's absolutely true too. I've followed the game since it was first talked about and when the KS started I was very frustrated that I couldn't get more people I know interested, although I tried and have tried since. I really appreciate your perspective on releasing and marketing a real-people RPG because I love the setting but, for some reason, it doesn't translate into RPG interest (there aren't even any tabletop RPGs exploring similar territory). You guys really broke a lot of ground with DS and I hope you can build on it in future projects, whether or not they're in the DS franchise.

We appreciate the word-of-mouth help - thank you!

I'm not an expert, but I believe there actually are several very popular tabletop games that deal with survivors. A board game fan could probably jump in and name a few.

I answered this above - the press I'm referring to is for all stages of the project, not just release.

Sure-- I think that's absolutely true too. I've followed the game since it was first talked about and when the KS started I was very frustrated that I couldn't get more people I know interested, although I tried and have tried since. I really appreciate your perspective on releasing and marketing a real-people RPG because I love the setting but, for some reason, it doesn't translate into RPG interest (there aren't even any tabletop RPGs exploring similar territory). You guys really broke a lot of ground with DS and I hope you can build on it in future projects, whether or not they're in the DS franchise.

In fact there is a kickstarter for a new edition of one right now. Outbreak: Undead

There's "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" which is like a zombie-themed D&D campaign setting kind of thing.

That's probably the most popular one, or at least the most prolific one. They've released about a dozen assorted supplements over the years, some of them generic and others exploring specific sub-genres. It's not a bad system, but a bit too clunky for my tastes.

A relatively recent alternative is Dead Reign, which comes from Palladium Games. It's actually pretty interesting, too, with a few solid ideas - but it suffers from the usual problems you see in pretty much all Palladium Games. Namely, there are far too many charts. Roughly sixty percent of each book is just made up of charts. Experience progression charts, skill charts, random encounter charts, loot charts, and so on. Things like encounter charts and loot charts are pretty neat, but they have some fairly arbitrary percentages attached to them.

Personally, I usually use the Call of Cthulhu system as my go-to whenever I want to run a horror-themed game, including zombie-survival. It's simple enough to keep things moving, rather lethal, and already has an "insanity" system built right in. The "learn by doing" skill system is a plus.

There's a number of zombie themed RPGs or RPG supplements. However, and this may bear more on both what Brian and monstermanual said, most of them run toward the more fantastic end of the genre; they're more like playing Left4Dead in an RPG than Dead State or even State of Decay. Mind you, that's true of RPGs in general.

I supported the game as much as I possibly could through word of mouth and my main youtube channel. I've pumped uncountable hours into the game but what I think killed it for me is that the first two hours are way too repetitive. I like to do things in whatever order I want and it wasn't possible. I've already beat that topic into the ground though and don't think it does any good to bring it up anymore.

I still believe though that Dead State is the definitive survival game from a behavioral standpoint. It's like the "Conflicted" card game but with consequences. For what you set out to do Brian, you absolutely nailed it. The rest couldn't have been avoided without ditching the first two hours of scripted events entirely, even if it was for a second playthrough or something. :-(

Also for the record, I never found the defects to be an issue. Defects give a game character as long as they don't blow up your system. Dead Island would have been an absolute trash game if it was any good. Since it was so glitchingly awful it makes for one of my favorite games of all time. Same with Aidyn Chronicles. Some games need glitches to make them memorable.

I think the most important thing was that Dead State was honest. It never claimed to be something it wasn't.

I can't help thinking though, with the whole torrent situation that maybe a few ingame purchases could have been able to regain some lost revenue...

All that would have done would have meant someone would have hacked it with the ingame purchases rolled in.

Keep in mind that the Denuvo anti-tamper in DA:I only took the hackers a little longer to get through, and its apparently a big ole pain in the behind. The best you can do is make a game people want to buy--past that its a fool's game.